An excerpt is available to law.com subscribers (or you can sign-up for limited free access) by author and ALM Legal Intelligence Senior Analyst Erin Hichman. She discusses the five AI building blocks: data, processes, talent, culture and last and maybe least, technology, for which she says:

“While it’s easy to directly jump to technology when thinking of AI, it’s really the last aspect to consider after everything else is flushed out and defined.”

Pulling the blockchain

While you’re at law.com reading the AI article referenced above, check out another article about a joint venture of law firms and technology companies that’s promising to shake up both the way we see blockchain and the way we work in our firms. It’s called the Agreements Network, and it will allow “multiple parties to plug in and create and execute legal agreements, as well as manage and store digital evidence and assets.”

The prospects are starting to sound pretty cool. Following are two perspectives on this new middle layer platform.

Adopt and adapt

Few areas of interest spark such a surge of both excitement and trepidation as new technology like AI and blockchain. From best practices to service comparisons to surveys of use and satisfaction, we talk about tech constantly.

Dean Sonderegger brings up this interesting question: How exactly do we measure the adoption of these new platforms and tools?

He observes,

“I believe that we are still in the early stages of discovering the depth of opportunity that technology can open to legal professionals, but it’s also clear that we’re beginning to see mainstream adoption of these technologies in practice.”

But how do we quantify what these anecdotes and examples are showing us? Dean shares his thoughts in this great read:

Back to the past

Most of my readings are about current and future and technologies, but lately, thanks to University of Maryland Baltimore County Professor Craig Saper’s article, Ode to the Microfilm Reader, I’ve been traveling back in time. Even Information Today traveled to “information yesterday” by referring to Saper’s premise that, Microfilm Lasts Half a Millennium,” which provides a summary of Saper’s Atlantic article. The article traces the origins of microfilm and the subsequent decline due to OCR capabilities. And yet Saper seems to think microfilm has staying power. Do you agree?

Casetext: Mission launch and beyond

Leave it to Bob Ambrogi to inspire me to subscribe to one more podcast. In the latest episode of his LawNext podcast, he interviews Casetext founders Jake Heller and Pablo Arredondo. The two discuss their mission, the evolution of their CARA platform, the current state of the company and where they are going.

The power of iteration and danger of cruft

And what is cruft you may be asking? The definition is “the useless crap that builds up in any creative endeavor as you iterate,” and Ryan McClead, whose many roles have included theater composer and College of Law Practice Management Fellow, says that cruft applies to legal technology the same as it applies to music composition:

“Invariably you run into some difficulties early on and have to find kludgy work-arounds to get where you think you’re going.”

Simply put, his article discusses the power of throwing it all out and starting over, saying that starting over isn’t “as daunting as it sounds, you’re not starting from scratch.”

If you are intrigued by just how hitting reset on a project can be useful, take a read and see what you can learn:

John DiGilio

John DiGilio is the Senior Director of Research & Intelligence at LAC Group.
He has written for numerous regional and national publications as well as taught college and graduate courses in such topics as business ethics, e-commerce, fair employment practices, research methodology and business law.